Indian High Commission London — Death Registration and NOC Process

The High Commission of India in London is the sole authority for registering the death of an Indian national in the UK, cancelling the deceased's passport, and issuing the No Objection Certificate that airlines and Indian authorities require before mortal remains can enter India. The consulates in Birmingham and Edinburgh handle the same process for their jurisdictions.

Families often underestimate how long this step takes — not because it is inherently slow, but because the eSewa portal has specific formatting requirements and the in-person appointment must be booked through the same system.

The eSewa Portal: Online First, In-Person Second

The process starts online at the Indian Consular Services eSewa portal (indianconsularservices.mea.gov.in). A next of kin, authorised family representative, or the funeral director registers a new user account and uploads the required documents.

Upload requirements:

• Each document must be in PDF or JPEG format
• Each file must be under 200 KB
• Do not use the deceased's passport number to create the account — the system flags and locks passport numbers that appear simultaneously as both a user ID and the subject of a death registration

Once the documents pass the online scrutiny, you book an in-person appointment through the eSewa dashboard. For genuine emergencies where the standard appointment wait is too long, families can email cons2.london@mea.gov.in or call the emergency helpline (+44 7768 765035) to request an expedited walk-in slot.

Documents Required for the Appointment

Bring originals and self-attested photocopies of all documents to the appointment:

• Miscellaneous Application Form and Death Registration Form — with a 2×2 passport photo of the applicant (the living person attending, not the deceased)
• Deceased's Indian passport — submitted for cancellation; the cancelled passport is returned to the family
• OCI card (if applicable) — submitted for cancellation
• UK death certificate — original certified copy from the registrar. If the coroner's investigation is still active, a Coroner's Interim Fact of Death Certificate is accepted
• Coroner's Out of England Order — Form 103, essential for transporting remains out of England and Wales
• Doctor's Free from Infection Certificate — confirming the deceased did not have yellow fever, plague, anthrax, or glanders
• Embalming certificate — from the funeral director
• Coffin sealing certificate — confirming hermetic zinc-lined packaging per IATA standards
• Flight details and consignee information — the airline, route, air waybill number, and the consignee's name, address, and phone number in India
• Applicant's ID — valid passport and UK address proof (utility bill or council tax statement)
• Consignee affidavit — a notarised affidavit from the next of kin in India accepting responsibility for collecting the remains

Fees

Consular death registration and passport cancellation for an Indian national is free — no consular fee is charged.

For a foreign national holding an OCI card, the fee is £16–£17, payable in cash or by crossed postal order. Credit cards, debit cards, and personal cheques are not accepted at the consular counter.

Processing Time

The consular application is completed through the in-person appointment when the documents are complete. Confirm when the NOC will be issued with the relevant mission rather than assuming it will be issued the same day.

The consular death registration is a prerequisite for the eCARe portal application. You cannot get India's health clearance for importing remains without the HCI's NOC and the cancelled passport in hand.

Birmingham and Edinburgh Consulates

The Indian consulates in Birmingham and Edinburgh handle identical processes for deaths occurring in their jurisdictions. The eSewa portal is shared, and the document requirements are the same. Contact details are listed on the HCI London website.

For families navigating the entire sequence — death registration, apostille, HCI appointment, eCARe clearance, airline cargo booking — the Indian Dies in the UK guide maps each step with timelines and shows how they interlock.